In recent years, there has been a tremendous proliferation of computers connected to a global network known as the Internet. A “client” computer connected to the Internet can download digital information from “server” computers connected to the Internet. Client application and operating system software executing on client computers typically accepts commands from a user and obtains data and services by sending requests to server applications running on server computers connected to the Internet. A number of protocols are used to exchange commands and data between computers connected to the Internet. The protocols include the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), the File Transfer Protocol (FTP), the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), Gopher and other protocols.
The HTTP protocol is used to access data on the World Wide Web, often referred to as “the Web.” The World Wide Web is an information service on the Internet providing documents and links between documents. The World Wide Web is made up of numerous Web sites around the world that maintain and distribute Web documents (a/k/a Web pages). A Web site may use one or more Web server computers that are able to store and distribute documents in one of a number of formats including the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). An HTML document can contain text, graphics, audio clips and video clips, as well as metadata or commands providing formatting information. HTML documents also can include embedded links, such as URLs, that reference other data or Web pages located on the local computer or network server computers. “URL” is an abbreviation for “Uniform Resource Locator,” the global address of documents and other resources on the World Wide Web.
FTP is the protocol used on the Internet for sending files. Further, SMTP is a protocol for sending e-mail messages between servers. Most e-mail systems that send mail over the Internet use SMTP to send messages from one server to another; the messages can then be retrieved with an e-mail client. In addition, SMTP is generally used to send messages from a mail client to a mail server.
Gopher is a system that pre-dates the World Wide Web for organizing and displaying files on Internet servers. A Gopher server presents its contents as a hierarchically structured list of files. With the ascendance of the Web, most Gopher databases are being converted to Web sites which can be more easily accessed via Web search engines.
A Web browser is a client application, software component, or operating system utility that communicates with server computers via FTP, HTTP and Gopher protocols. Web browsers receive Web documents (i.e., Web pages) from the network and present them to a user. Internet Explorer, available from Microsoft Corporation, of Redmond, Wash., is an example of a popular Web browser.
Recently, many users have started utilizing their Web browsers to locate streaming-media sources. After a streaming-media source is located, the Web browser works in conjunction with a media player in order to play the media on the client computer's monitor and/or speakers. An example of a popular media player is Windows Media Player, also available from Microsoft Corporation. A streaming-media source is a source (e.g., a URL) that “streams” media/data to a client computer. Streaming is a technique for transferring data such that it can be processed as a steady and continuous stream. Streaming technologies are becoming increasingly important with the growth of the Internet because most users do not have fast enough access to download large multimedia files quickly. With streaming, the Web browser or media player can start displaying the data before the entire file has been transmitted. An example of a streaming-media source is a radio station that “streams” its broadcast to users on the Internet. In this example, the streaming media source (i.e., radio station) is loaded from the Internet and played on a client computer using the Windows Media Player.
Unfortunately, there are a number of problems with currently available Web pages that attempt to identify available streaming-media sources, such as radio stations. For example, the prior art usually provides one or more Web pages that contain myriad hyperlinks to various streaming-media sources. These Web pages are slow and are difficult to navigate. Some Web pages are hierarchical in that selection of one hyperlink leads a user to another Web page that contains even more choices. However, each time a selection is made, the entire Web page needs to be replotted (i.e., regenerated and redisplayed). Again, this method is inefficient as well as confusing to the user. Another problem is that users are unable to customize streaming-media content on Web pages. For example, prior-art Web pages do not allow users to identify their preferred streaming-media sources and do not provide users with preset buttons for quick navigation. Lastly, the prior art does not allow users to assign their preferred streaming-media sources to graphical objects depicted on the Web page. Similarly, the prior art is unable to remember a user's preferred streaming-media sources.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide improved methods and data structures for assigning URLs on the Internet to graphical objects (such as buttons) displayed on Web pages. In short, this will help users to locate, place and use streaming-media sources.